Beyond the Darkness
by Vegetas-Princess
Summary: 500 years is a long time to hold a grudge, especially against your brother. But when you have eternity on your hands, sometimes the little things don't seem so trivial anymore. Especially when SHE'S involved. InuKag some KagSess.


Hiya! Just a quick few notes before we get into the story. Hope you don't mind. This story is based on the wonderful books "The Vampire Diaries" by LJ Smith. If you've ever read these books, then you should be able to pick out the similarities between this and the books.

Bear in mind, that while Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru are NOT your normal human brothers, they aren't actually demons.. at least, not as WE know them. They will, however, for story's sake, APPEAR human, with the exception of their hair and eye colors, which I just plain old couldn't bear to part with. So no griping that I forgot to add Sesshy's markings or 'Yasha's ears. I just didn't want them to stand out. It's rather important to the story that they blend in fairly well. :-D

With that said…

On with the fic!

Disclaimer: Is it really necessary for us to go over this? Fine.. In case any of you, for whatever reason, thought that I owned Inuyasha, you're absolutely, positively wrong. And I must thank you for bringing up such a painful subject.

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It was dark.

As far as Kagome could see, that's all that there was. Pitch black, unending darkness that threatened to swallow her should she stop to catch her breath.

So on she ran.

From what, she wasn't sure. But something told her that she shouldn't look back to see.

That she wouldn't like what she saw.

She could hear the beating of wings.

The prospect of slowing down to catch her breath was rather appealing, but the idea quickly started to seem rather silly after a moment. It was more than a bit obvious that the thing chasing her wasn't doing so to get her autograph.

As a matter of fact, she was fairly certain that whatever that winged creature was, it pretty much only wanted one thing.

Her death.

But that thought seemed preposterous. She was Kagome, seventeen year old Shikon High School Senior. Head of nearly every committee that would have her... The girl that every guy wanted and every girl wanted to be.

What in Kami's name would anyone want to hurt HER for?

Try as she might, she couldn't figure it out.

Obviously focusing her attention elsewhere hadn't been the wisest idea she'd ever had, because suddenly it felt as though the ground had been yanked out from beneath her feet.

Vaguely she recognized the splash of water, and the freezing cold as it engulfed her.

And then, she knew nothing else.

The darkness swallowed her screams.

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She bolted upright in bed, sweat pouring down her face in cold rivulets.

"What in Kami's name...?" She murmured softly to herself, before reaching over to retrieve the glass of water sitting on her nightstand.

A quick glance at her alarm clock alerted her that it was already 4:45.. she'd have to wake up for school in another fifteen minutes anyway. She breathed a silent sigh of relief at that.

Sleep was something that she had already decided she was never going to do again.

Ever.

No matter what.

She downed the rest of her water quickly, placed the cup back in its original resting place, and rolled out of bed in one swift, practiced motion, promptly flattening her cat, Buyo, into a large pancake on her bedroom floor.

"Stupid cat. Why do you bother sleeping there?" Kagome asked, her voice soft, despite her wording. It was like a morning ritual with the two. Buyo would sleep on the soft woven rug beside her bed, and inevitably every morning, Kagome would literally roll herself out of bed, and onto the more than slightly overweight cat.

Kagome was fairly certain that the only reason he kept repeating the process over and over again was that he was so desperate for attention that he would allow her to flatten him, as long as he got a good belly rub in the process.

"You need to go on a diet, Buyo, or soon I won't be able to lift you anymore." She teased the cat playfully, before proceeding with the morning rub down.

Buyo merely purred in contentment.

And for the cat, all was right with the world.

For Kagome, however, the memory of her dream was still far too fresh for her to relax.

She could still feel the icy cold as it wrapped around her, her screams dying in her throat before they could escape to call for help.

She gave an involuntary shiver before pushing the cat from her lap, and heading for the bathroom.

Maybe a nice hot shower would help her to relax. If she went to school as wound up as she was now, Sango and the others would take off at a full gallop in the opposite direction. It was no small secret that Kagome tended to be a bit… well… bitchy… when she hadn't slept well.

Her friends had all learned long ago that if she so much as yawned in their general direction, they should turn tail and run the other way.

A lot of Kagome's life revolved around her friends.

If she didn't have them, then there wasn't much left that she DID have.

Not to mention the fact that no one wanted to start their senior year of high school alone.

Not if they were given a choice in the matter, at least.

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Inuyasha Takahashi, unfortunately, wasn't one of the ones that ever got to make that choice.

Not anytime in the last oh, say, five centuries or so, at least.

If he really took the time to think about it though, he could vaguely remember a time when he had been accepted. When others had smiled at him and welcomed them into their circles.

He gave a short, bitter laugh before glancing down at his hands to the broken white dove that lay there.

Any amusement he might have been feeling, bitter or not, trailed off rather quickly as he took in the carnage he had inflicted on the poor animal. The poor bird's throat had been all but ripped from it's body, leaving a gaping maw behind.

With a slight twinge of regret, the silver haired boy lay the bird down onto the ground.

"My apologies, little one. If I had realized how bad it was going to be..." His voice trailed off. Was there really any point in apologizing to the damned bird? The damage had already been done, anyway.

The bitter smile returned.

Yes, the damage had been done long, long ago.

The flapping of wings drew his attention upward. He squinted against the sunlight, briefly wondering if perhaps he had imagined it, when suddenly he caught sight of the source of the sound. There, perched atop one of the lower branches of a tree, stood what Inuyasha could easily describe as the biggest crow he had ever seen.

And even THAT didn't seem to do it justice.

The thing was easily TWICE the size of a normal crow.

To put it mildy, it gave him the creeps.

The bird regarded him carefully for a moment before giving a quick caw and moving to the ground. Inuyasha's eye's widened a bit. Why in the name of seven hells wasn't the thing AFRAID of him? Wasn't that what people always said? That animals were more afraid of you, than you were of them?

"Shows what they know.." The golden eyed boy mumbled softly to himself.

What was the big deal anyway? It was just a bird.

He took a step forward and made a quick shooing motion with his hand.

The crow didn't move an inch.

His concerns continued to grow

"Now listen here you little..." A quick, incessant beeping from his watch stopped his tirade short, however, drawing his attention instead to his wrist.

If he was going to attempt to start back to school, then making a good impression would be important, wouldn't it?

Inuyasha cast one quick look over his shoulder at the offending animal, before rushing back off to his car.

It was already looking as if today wasn't going to be a good day, after all.

That thought didn't help the already sour mood he found himself in.

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"Bye Souta, bye Kaede!" Kagome called to her family before snatching up her bag and heading for the door.

"Kagome! You need to at least eat before rushing off!" Her aunt called back, and it was all the seventeen year old girl could do to suppress a groan.

"Kaede! I promise to grab something at school.. You know how I am; I'm so excited I can barely control it!" She called back merrily, before once again bolting for the door.

What stopped her this time, however, was the eight year old little boy blocking her path. She couldn't quite keep the groan contained this time. She was also more than a slight bit aware that a muscle just to the left of her nose was twitching uncontrollably, lending her the appearance of what some might call a sadistic bunny.

"Kagome? Could you walk me to school today?"

Kagome's irritation grew. Of all the days for him to get a case of cold feet, he had to choose today. "Souta! I don't have time for this today! I'm running late as it is."

The young boy's spirit seemed to sink at the rejection.

And of course, Kagome's heart melted at the sight.

"Oh, Souta.. You know I didn't mean it the way it sounded. I always have time for you. I just don't have as much today. Tell you what, how about if I swing by and pick you up afterwards though? Would that work?" She asked quickly, mentally kicking herself for being so rash to the sweet young boy. She gave a relieved sigh at his smile and enthusiastic nod before placing a quick kiss atop his forehead and sidestepping around him to the door.

The cool autumn air met her head on, and for some reason, so did her anxiety from earlier.

A slight rustling in the Goshinboku tree in her front yard drew her attention upward, her breath catching abruptly in her throat. 'Is that... a crow?' She blinked at the animal a few times, her unease growing. 'Jeez, that things's HUGE!'.

It didn't take the teen long to decide that she didn't like the animal. Not in the least bit.

As strange as it sounded, it was almost as if the bird was _undressing _her with his eyes. Or eye.. From the angle she was at, Kagome could only actually see one of them.

And still her unease grew.

Without ever taking her eyes off of the bird in question, Kagome reached down to the ground beside her foot. She grabbed a small piece of gravel from the path and chucked it as hard as she could at the bird.

Luckily for the bird, she had never had very good aim.

The pebble bounced harmlessly off of the tree trunk and landed back in the grass. The message, however, had obviously been delivered. With a caw and a flurry of wings, the bird was gone.

It was if a blanket had been lifted from Kagome. Her worries disappeared as quickly as they had come, leaving her to laugh at herself for her silliness in the whole matter.

"Get yourself together, Kagome! Jeez, you're falling apart!" She reprimanded herself quietly, before taking a deep breath and dashing out the sidewalk, all fear gone, at least for the moment.

Now, instead of reassuring herself that the bird hadn't been crazy and out to get her, however, she was having a hard time convincing herself that she wasn't the one that needed to be locked away.

The sight of a familiar head in the distance did little to brighten her mood. 'Maybe he won't see me?'

Fate, however, decided once more that it needed to laugh in her face.

"Higurashi! Higurashi! Over here!" The overly excited brown haired boy called to her.

'If he waves any faster, he's liable to take flight...' Kagome thought to herself, before quickly banishing the thought. After all, it really wasn't Hojo's fault that he was just so damn.. _boring_.

Terribly sweet, mind you, and incomparably giving. He was definitely one of the best friends that Kagome had ever been lucky enough to have.

But he was still deathly boring, nonetheless.

Despite this fact, though, Kagome felt her hand raise despite her better judgement, and found herself calling the brown haired boy over to her. '_Kind of like a puppy..' _ she thought absently, before finding herself being crushed against a well toned chest.

Ah.. Had she forgot to mention that Hojo was a decent_ boyfriend_, as well? He would have been much better, however, if he hadn't been so damn.

'_Boring.' _The schoolgirl found herself thinking, and it was all she could do to repress a sigh. It wasn't that she wanted one of those bad-boy boyfriends that rode around on motorcycles and bashed in poor defenseless mailboxes with baseball bats because they ran out of other things to do.

That wasn't the case at all. Kagome just wanted that feeling. Not that she knew exactly what feeling that was, mind you. But she was fairly certain that she would know it when she felt it.

And as anyone that has ever been in love can tell you, she most definitely, without a doubt, would recognize it almost immediately.

And unfortunately for poor Hojo, that feeling just wasn't there. At least, not for her, and she was fairly certain that he couldn't feel it either. At least, she hoped not. The last thing she wanted to do was break the poor guy's heart. Especially after they had been friends for so long.

Kagome gave a weak sigh before taking hold of Hojou's hand and leading him down the street toward the school. It was going to be a long day.

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Hi there! Hope you liked the start! Like I said, please bear in mind that this is based loosely off of the wonderful stories "The Vampire Diaries" by LJ Smith. If you ever have a chance, you should read them.

Anyway, If you liked it, please click that pretty little button over there and let me know! I thrive on reviews. J Till next we meet!

Vegetas-Princess


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